A report published in Perspectives on Psychological Science in April says that people are each speaking about 120,000 fewer words every year.
That’s a cumulative loss of 1.8 million spoken words over five years.
If this report is correct—we are talking less.
Conversation is dying.
The verb ‘to talk’ means ‘to converse or communicate with another person… by means of speech, typically of a spontaneous and informal kind’ (Oxford); ‘to express in speech’ (Merriam-Webster).
The word ‘talk’ appears in English around 1225 and comes from a Germanic source verb ‘to tale.’
At that time ‘tale’ did not mean (as it does today) a fictional story, instead it was closer to the (related) word ‘tally.’
It meant ‘to reckon, to number, to enumerate’—something that was done out loud and shared with others.
Over time it took on the ‘-lk’ ending in parallel with words such as ‘walk.’
So, why is our talk together dying?
Surely, it’s largely because of technology.
We’ve all seen couples (or whole families) sitting together in a public place (a restaurant, an airport) where all of them are glued to the small screens on their phones and not talking to each other.
Texting has largely replaced emails and certainly dispensed with chat.
Self-checkout at the supermarket means we no longer exchange small talk with the checkout person.
I am told that in workplaces colleagues who sit within earshot of each other now exchange emails rather than just turn around and talk to each other.
For those of us who love words and language, this nothing less than a tragedy.
Without talk relationships wither and die.
And relationship is the currency of the universe.
Without relationships humanity dies.
So, fight the trend!
Take every opportunity to talk—talk to anyone, anywhere, any time!
I talk to strangers in lifts and at bus stops.
We need to be the brigade that fights the loss of language—the loss of conversation.
Small talk is better than no talk.
You know what needs to be done—so go and do it!
The latest issue of The Spectator Australia is in newsagents now -- with a cartoon of the Pope and AI on front cover, and my language column in the back.
TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER SCROLL FURTHER DOWN THIS PAGE >>>>>>
BOOKS:
* My latest book is called Pray Like This. To look at prayer I do what I do in these Ozword columns: I go through the most famous prayer in the world (The Lord’s Prayer, also known as the Our Father) and unpack it word by word—each chapter being a short word-study on a key word in that prayer. There is a total of 21 words studies in all. To find out more, here’s a link to the publisher’s website (where you can buy a copy if you wish): Pray Like This – matthiasmedia.com.au
* My book is Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries -- containing 50 new stories I have written about the great detective. You can find it on Amazon. Just go to Amazon and type in Sherlock Holmes: 5-Minute Mysteries in the search panel. Or use this link: h Amazon.com.au : Sherlock Holmes 5-Minute Mysteries Kel Richards
* My book "Defending the Gospel" is now in a second, fully revised, edition. You can find it here: Defending the Gospel – matthiasmedia.com.au
* If you're looking for my recent book "Flash Jim" you'll find it here -- Flash Jim, The astonis
hing story of the convict fraudster who wrote Australia's first dictionary by Kel Richards | 9781460759769 | Booktopia
* You can find all Kel's books currently in print here -- Booktopia Search Results for 'kel richards'. We sell books, hardback, paperback, audio, CDs.
* And also here -- Amazon.com.au : Kel Richards
* And you'll find more here -- Search: 4 results found for "Kel Richards" – matthiasmedia.com.au
* Many of Kel's out of print books can be found at ABE Books -- Kel Richards - AbeBooks explaining words explain the term
BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
The liveliest part of this website is usually the Q and A page -- be sure to check it out from time to time.
